Watertown greyhound owner pleads guilty to neglect

Watertown resident Kevin Schneider has pleaded guilty in Rhode Island to charges of animal neglect and abandonment. He faces similar charges in Massachusetts.

Jillian Fennimore

Watertown resident Kevin Schneider has pleaded guilty in Rhode Island to charges of animal neglect and abandonment. He faces similar charges in Massachusetts.

According to greyhound advocate Joslin Murphy, who attended the court proceedings, the judge sentenced Schneider to six months at the Adult Correctional Institute in Rhode Island. That sentence was suspended for 11 months. Conditions of probation are: full restitution to the veterinary clinic that cared for his former greyhound, Sari, until her death; and no ownership of companion animals, she said in an e-mail.

Watertown Police confirmed that Schneider had pleaded guilty on May 19.

Schneider’s attorney, John Ruby, had no comment to the TAB & Press on Wednesday.

Schneider is slated to face a jury trial on Aug. 21 for allegedly abusing his former greyhounds. He was first arrested by Watertown Police last November.

In Massachusetts, Schneider has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty after allegedly abandoning his two adopted racing greyhounds. According to reports, Schneider pushed one dog named Talca from a moving SUV in Connecticut, and left the other dog, Sari, under a bush near a Rhode Island hospital.

Earlier this year, Schneider pleaded not guilty to the Bay State charges. In Massachusetts, a charge of cruelty to animals carries a maximum sentence of five years.

After an investigation by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a warrant was obtained for Schneider. Watertown Police first arrested him inside his Spruce Street home on Nov. 17.

A pretrial conference in Connecticut has also been scheduled for Schneider in June, Murphy said.

According to a past statement from Michael McCann, another greyhound advocate, on the night of Oct. 27, a man from Killingly, Conn., allegedly saw Schneider open the passenger door of his SUV while it was rolling and push one of the greyhounds out.

The same SUV was allegedly seen one hour later at the parking lot of Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., dropping something off under a bush nearby and speeding away. A nurse reportedly discovered another white-and-black greyhound “so weak, she couldn’t move.”

Sari died from severe malnourishment days later. Talca is recovering and has been re-adopted.